Increase housing targets by at least 44pc, Wicklow council chief told at government meeting
The Wicklow PeopleThe chief executive of Wicklow County Council Emer O’Gorman has said more work will need to be done to increase housing supply in the county, after being asked by Government officials to increase targets by upwards of 44pc.
It’s after she attended a recent meeting at Government Buildings to discuss the National Planning Framework.
Ms O’Gorman, alongside the chief executives of Dublin City, Fingal, and Kildare County Councils were invited to individual local authority meetings with the Taoiseach Michael Martin, Tánaiste Simon Harris, Housing Minister James Browne and junior housing minister John Cummins.
No other local authority chief executives have been invited to attend such a meeting.
The purpose of the meeting, which only lasted 20 minutes, was to discuss where Wicklow County Council was in relation to varying its County Development Plan to align with the new housing targets. Work has been ongoing in the background with the planning team to determine what additional measures need to be taken.
During the council’s November monthly meeting Ms O’Gorman informed the elected members of her exchange with government officials.
“At the meeting I outlined the proactive and pragmatic approach that the members in Wicklow take to zoning, particularly referencing the material contravention that passed through the chamber recently for Blessington, which granted by WCC would deliver new road infrastructure and housing, however the board refused the application and it subsequently ended up in the High Court and is now granted, resulting in a nine month plus delay in delivery.
“I outlined how each local area plan and related planning framework has been now included in the County Development Plan, which will remain valid until 2028. I emphasised the need for all agencies of the state to be aligned and not constrain one another.”
Ms O’Gorman also outlined the council’s intention to vary the development plan to take in the new targets.
“I suggested that in an initial review and variation we could recommend to the members moving RN2 lands to RN1. We are also looking at lands that fell short of being included in the recent plans and frameworks that are on the periphery of townlands and are serviced – inclusion of these lands would require the full rigours of the development plan process, which would obviously need considerably more time to bring through the full council.
“We have now been asked to increase our targets again. I think our housing target was 2,084 per annum. Minister Cummins wants us to deliver more than 3,000 units per year.”
“We are actively looking at how that process or call for expression of interest might work,” she added.
Ms O’Gorman also outlined some of the infrastructural constraints and challenges that the county faces, including congestion on the N11, adequacy of the N81, lack of appropriate train services beyond Greystones, deficits in public transport in West Wicklow, the lack of school and creche places and the availability of GP services.
Ms O’Gorman said the Taoiseach and Tánaiste commended the work that the council had done regarding social and affordable housing delivery via the various delivery methods.
“They pressed the point that they want this county to assist in addressing the demand for housing both private and public and they welcomed the proposed approach to moving RN2 to RN1 as a first step.” she added.
The local authority aims to advertise the variation by the end of November.
The meeting at Government Buildings comes following a lengthy discussion at October’s council meeting when amendments were adopted for the Greystones Delgany Kilcoole Planning Framework.
District Cathaoirleach councillor Lourda Scott has warned that increasing housing targets for Wicklow will not necessarily deliver the homes needed.
After questioning the Chief Executive at the November Council meeting, Cllr Scott said serious concerns were raised about the Government’s commitment to addressing the national housing crisis.
“Zoning additional land does not guarantee a single new home will be built,” said Cllr Scott.
According to figures from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, more than 70,000 homes with full planning permission have not yet started construction.
“Until Government tackles the reasons behind this, simply changing zoning categories will not speed up the building of homes. In addition to this, tens of thousands of vacant and derelict properties remain across the country. The quickest way to make housing available is to bring these into use, not to expand zoning boundaries yet again.”
“We are in a housing crisis, yet the Government refuses to treat it like the emergency it is,” said Cllr Scott.
“Talking about zoning more land and increasing housing targets is more smoke and mirrors by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael; good for headlines but not resulting in the delivery of more housing. We also need honesty about how those homes will be delivered, and whether the infrastructure that makes them liveable will be ready in time.
“In Greystones, we have seen housing delivered at pace over the past decade, but the services to support that growth simply have not kept up.”
Cllr Scott said she was disappointed that despite the Tánaiste’s personal connection to Greystones, investment in infrastructure was not discussed in the meeting with council officials.
“Everyone living in Greystones and north Wicklow knows that infrastructure is playing catch-up. I am constantly contacted by constituents who cannot access GP services, creche places and sporting groups who are bursting at the seams with no space to expand.
“School places are under pressure, with local children this September again finding themselves without a secondary school place. Extensions are slow to progress, North Wicklow Educate Together in Bray still has no permanent home, Newtownmountkennedy is crying out for a secondary school to be sanctioned but it isn’t happening.
“We have the situation where communities like Greystones that have already delivered significant housing numbers, but the State has failed to match that with the necessary infrastructure.”
“In the meantime, homeless figures continue to rise with the number of homeless children is over 5,000 according to the latest figures. It’s a mess and a disgrace. Yet all the Government can do is look to zoning land,” she added.
Meanwhile Cllr Paul O’Brien took aim at the actions of the Taoiseach and Tánaiste.
“It was a cheap shot at local government to be quite honest to you, blaming us for their failings when it comes to housing. It is all right to say we're going to go from R1 to R2, but we're the ones getting it in the neck about lack of school places, as if we can do anything about the congestion on N11, about the lack of train service, about the lack of sport infrastructure.”
Adding his voice to the conversation Cllr Joe Behan said it was disappointing that councillors didn’t have more input.
“Many of the members of this council would agree that we are not doing enough but we're being completely obstructed by national policies but also by the planning policy in this council of the permanent planning staff, which is that we don't need to zone any further land.”
Tánaiste Simon Harris released a statement following the meeting which outlined his intention to continue holding conversations about how Wicklow County Council and the government can work together.
“We need to make sure that we tackle the housing emergency that our country faces, but also to make sure that we support Wicklow County Council with the infrastructure that it needs to make that progress.”
Minister Harris also highlighted the role the housing activation office has in funding key infrastructure projects.
Reflecting on the outcomes of the meeting, Minister Harris described it as “very productive” and expressed gratitude toward Wicklow County Council and local councillors for their ongoing efforts.